This is it! After a couple of false starts and lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth, the Bike Touring News site is finally officially off the ground! Just like any tour we have no idea exactly where this will lead or how it will end up but the direction is clear:
Providing inspiration, ideas, practical and technical tips, equipment reviews, reader contributions and comments, and whatever else we can think of to make this site a single source to help people sort out the ever increasing and ever more confusing ways to travel by bicycle.
Bike touring means different things to different people. In the context of this site, there will be a loose interpretation. A “micro-tour” (a term coined by Pondero) might be taking an hour and a half to ride to a secluded spot 4 miles from home, brew some tea, and ride home. A trip out to the local state park with a picnic lunch loaded in the front basket qualifies as a tour. The S24O or sub-24-hour ride is an overnight bike camping routine popularized recently by Rivendell Bicycle Works founder Grant Petersen. The supported, organized tours and charity rides can be a lot of fun. Then, of course, there is the multiple day trip on a fully loaded bike…probably the image that comes to mind most often.
So there is a lot of ground to cover. We’ve planned our route, we’ve done our training, and we have our gear stowed. Now we’re grabbing the handlebars, hitting the road and looking forward to whatever happens!